Department Pride

The Fire Department, especially the volunteer departments, are held together by one main thing. Pride. Along with pride is loyalty. Someone who doesn't think they are a part of the best organization is weeded out, pushed to the side or at the very least pushed to prove their meddle. Someone not loyal, who gets going when the going gets tough, are seen through and labeled as such. True professionals do their job because it's who they are, it's the right thing to do and because someone else is counting on them. It could be a fellow firefighter, it could be you. The volunteers as well as the paid guys show this pride with the one thing everybody sees, their apparatus. Sometimes there is a seriousness to it sometimes a whimsical side. Today I attended the Fireman's Expo in Harrisburg, PA. This is an annual event that brings firefighters from all around (I Saw PA, MD, VA, WV, NY, & NJ) some 7000 each day to wander around like kids in a candy store to see all the new apparatus, gear and t-shirts. And to see old friends, new friends and that guy with his safety vest, 3 monitors and 2 cell phones on. The guy who, you know, has five antennas and a light bar on his car that's worth more than his car. Yea, there's one in every crowd, us firefighters got'em too.